Current sense apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

A current sense apparatus and method comprises a common drain DMOSFET and a MOSFET connected in series between a high voltage and a low voltage to serve as an output stage. The DMOSFET produces a phase output current, a mirror current mirrored from the phase output current, and a sense voltage. A servo amplifier is connected with the mirror current and sense voltage to produce a current sense signal. Due to the mirror current from the DMOSFET proportional to the phase output current, the current sense apparatus senses the phase output current in a temperature independent manner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to a current senseapparatus and method, and more particularly, to a temperatureindependent current sense apparatus and method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Multi-phase DC-to-DC converter has been widely used in powersupplier circuits. A multi-phase buck converter typically employs a pairof MOSFETs connected in series for each phase as an output stageconnected between a high voltage and a low voltage to produce a phaseoutput. To obtain stable and balanced output, the output voltage andphase currents of a converter are sensed and fed back to the controlcircuit of the converter to produce the suitable control signals tomanipulate the MOSFETs of the output stage. To feed back the current ofeach phase, a current sense apparatus is used to detect the currentflowing through the phase, for example a scheme provided by U.S. Pat.No. 6,246,220 issued to Isham et al. producing the current sense signalby use of a current feedback resistor to feed back to the controlcircuit. Since the control of each phase is achieved by referring to thephase current detected by a current sense apparatus, the accuracy of thecurrent sense apparatus will directly affect the phase balance andperformance of the converter. However, the introduced resistors willaffect the phase current, and unfortunately, the factors of electronicdevices are temperature dependent, especially the resistances ortransistors made of semiconductor. The increasing working temperaturenot only produces signal error but also brings the phase at highertemperature further sharing more currents, and thus leads to be burntout.

[0003] Various conventional current sense apparatus used in synchronousswitching mode buck converters are shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1A, a senseresistor 76 is introduced to be connected in series between the inputvoltage VIN and high side MOSFET 72, and the produced voltage dropfurther produces a current sense signal by an operational amplifier 25.In FIG. 1B, the sense resistor 76 is connected in series between aground and the low side MOSFET 74, and the operational amplifier 25detects the voltage drop across the resistor 76 to produce the currentsense signal. Both of them introduce the additional sense resistor 76,and thus increase the cost and reduce the system efficiency. In FIG. 1C,the operational amplifier 25 directly detects the voltage drop acrossthe conductive high side MOSFET 72 to produce the current sense signal.In FIG. 1D, the operational amplifier 25 directly detects the voltagedrop across the conductive low side MOSFET 74 to produce the currentsense signal. Both of them utilize the internal resistance of the MOSFET72 or 74 as the sense resistor, and thus need not more cost for thesense resistor. However, the internal resistance of MOSFET varies withtemperature, and the varied rate is about 5000 ppm, it is therefore notaccurate of the measured current sense signal. In FIG. 1E, the parasiticresistor 78 of the output inductor 23 is used as the sense resistor, andit can be treated as connected in series between the inductor 23 andconverter output 70. The operational amplifier 25 detects the voltagedrop across the parasitic resistor 78 to produce the current sensesignal, while the resistance of the parasitic resistor 78 is too smalland hard to control. In FIG. 1F, the sense resistor 76 is connected inseries between the inductor 23 and converter output 70, and theoperational amplifier 25 detects the voltage drop across the resistor 76to produce the current sense signal. This method introduces anadditional resistor, and hence higher cost and poor system efficiency.

[0004]FIG. 6 shows a converter employing a conventional current senseapparatus as that in FIG. 1D, and only one phase is shown forsimplicity. The operational amplifier 25 detects the voltage drop acrossthe conductive low side MOSFET 74 and the produced current sense signalis connected to a sampling/holding circuit 50 that is also connected tothe non-inverting input 302 of the error amplifier 30. Additionally, avoltage follower 32 connected with an original reference voltage REFproduces a reference voltage to the node between resistor 34 andcapacitor 36. The other terminal of the resistor 34 is connected to thenon-inverting input 302 of the error amplifier 30. The inverting input301 of the error amplifier 30 is connected with the output voltage VOUT,and a feedback signal 303 and the output of the sampling/holding circuit50 are connected to the control logic 40 together to manipulate theoutput stage circuit, i.e., MOSFETs 72 and 74. Due to the current sensesignal relating to the internal resistance of the MOSFET 74, which istemperature dependent, the current sense signal will change withtemperature and result in error. Moreover, the converter output varieswhen load 60 changes, as shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7A shows the waveforms ofthe converter output at low temperature, of which the upper one showsthe transient performance of the variation A lout of the converteroutput current lout resulted from load variation, and the lower oneshows the ripple performance of the converter output voltage VOUTinduced by this transient effect. FIG. 7B shows the waveforms of theconverter output at high temperature. For the same load variation, thedroop VDROOP of the converter output voltage VOUT is smaller at hightemperature than that at low temperature. In other words, theperformance of a converter is much affected by temperature. FIG. 8 showsa curve of the internal resistance of MOSFET to temperature variation.When temperature rises, the internal resistance of MOSFET also becomeslarger, and therefore all operations incorporating the utilization ofthe internal resistance of MOSFET are affected by temperature.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] One object of the present invention is to provide a current senseapparatus and method for temperature independent current sense.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide amulti-phase switching mode DC-to-DC converter and method thereofincorporating a temperature independent current sense apparatus andmethod for balance control between each phase of the converter.

[0007] A further object of the present invention is to provide amulti-phase switching mode DC-to-DC converter and method thereof, whosecontrol to voltage droop resulted from load variation is temperatureindependent by incorporating a temperature independent current senseapparatus and method.

[0008] The invented current sense apparatus and method uses a commondrain DMOSFET and a MOSFET serving as an output stage connected betweena high voltage and a low voltage, and connects the current and voltagesense outputs from the DMOSFET to a servo amplifier. When a phase outputcurrent is flowing through the DMOSFET, a mirror current mirrored fromthe phase output current and a sense voltage are produced, and the servoamplifier is connected with the mirror current and sense voltage toproduce a current sense signal. Due to the mirror current from theDMOSFET proportional to the phase output current, the current sense thusobtained is temperature independent. Application of the current senseapparatus to a multi-phase switching mode DC-to-DC converter will makethe performance of the converter temperature independent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponconsideration of the following description of the preferred embodimentsof the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

[0010]FIG. 1A is a conventional current sense apparatus with a high sideresistor 76 and an operational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage dropacross the resistor 76 to produce the current sense signal;

[0011]FIG. 1B is a conventional current sense apparatus with a low sideresistor 76 and an operational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage dropacross the resistor 76 to produce the current sense signal;

[0012]FIG. 1C is a conventional current sense apparatus with anoperational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage drop across the high sideMOSFET 72 to produce the current sense signal;

[0013]FIG. 1D is a conventional current sense apparatus with anoperational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage drop across the low sideMOSFET 74 to produce the current sense signal;

[0014]FIG. 1E is a conventional current sense apparatus with anoperational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage drop across the parasiticresistor 78 of the output inductor 23 to produce the current sensesignal;

[0015]FIG. 1F is a conventional current sense apparatus with a resistor76 connected between the inductor 23 and voltage output 70 and anoperational amplifier 25 to detect the voltage drop across the resistor76 to produce the current sense signal;

[0016]FIG. 2A is the circuit diagram of a common drain DMOSFET;

[0017]FIG. 2B is the equivalent circuit of the common drain DMOSFETshown in FIG. 2A, which is equivalent to two common gated MOSFETs with aratio of 1:N;

[0018]FIG. 3 is a servo amplifier used in the invented apparatus, whichincludes an operational amplifier 25 connected to a MOSFET 26;

[0019]FIG. 4A is the first embodiment of the present invention, in whichthe common drain DMOSFET 22 is connected as a high side switch;

[0020]FIG. 4B is the second embodiment of the present invention, inwhich the-common drain DMOSFET 22 is connected as a low side switch;

[0021]FIG. 5 is a four-phase DC-to-DC converter circuit incorporatingthe invented current sense apparatus;

[0022]FIG. 6 is a simplified circuit diagram for one phase of aconventional converter;

[0023]FIG. 7A shows the waveforms of the droop of the converter outputvoltage of the circuit in FIG. 6 resulted from load variation at lowtemperature;

[0024]FIG. 7B shows the waveforms of the droop of the converter outputvoltage of the circuit in FIG. 6 resulted from load variation at hightemperature;

[0025]FIG. 8 shows the curve of the internal resistance of MOSFET totemperature;

[0026]FIG. 9 is a simplified circuit diagram for one phase of theconverter in FIG. 5;

[0027]FIG. 10A shows the waveforms of the droop of the converter outputvoltage of the circuit in FIG. 9 resulted from load variation at lowtemperature; and

[0028]FIG. 10B shows the waveforms of the droop of the converter outputvoltage of the circuit in FIG. 9 resulted from load variation at hightemperature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0029]FIG. 2A is the circuit diagram of a conventional common drainDMOSFET, of which a common drain DMOSFET 22 has 5 inputs/outputs (I/O)including a gate 221 (G), a drain 222 (D), a source 223 (S), a Kelvinsense 224 (KS) and a sense current 225 (IS), and which is equivalent totwo common gated MOSFETs, as shown in FIG. 2B. The ratio of two MOSFETs22 a and 22 b is 1:N, so that the current ratio of IS 225 and source 223flowing through the common drain DMOSFET 22 is 1:N, no matter howtemperature varies.

[0030]FIG. 3 is an embodiment servo amplifier used by the inventedapparatus, which includes an operational amplifier 25 and a MOSFET 26with its gate 261 connected to the output 253 of the operationalamplifier 25 and source 263 connected to the inverting input 252 of theoperational amplifier 25 so as for a unit gain feedback circuit isobtained. The operation principle of this circuit is described below.With the non-inverting input 251 of the operational amplifier 25grounded and a current source 11 connected to the inverting input 252 ofthe operational amplifier 25, the drain 262 of the MOSFET 26 willproduce a current 12 as large as the current source 11.

[0031]FIG. 4 shows two embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 4A,the common drain DMOSFET 22 is connected as the high side switch of theoutput stage to be monitored, and in FIG. 4B the common drain DMOSFET 22is connected as a the low side switch of the output stage to bemonitored. In these two embodiments, the KS 224 and IS 225 of the commondrain DMOSFET 22 are connected to the non-inverting input 251 andinverting input 252 of the operational amplifier 25, respectively. Aphase output node 20 is provided between the common drain DMOSFET 22 andMOSFET 21 to produce a phase output for the converter output voltageVOUT on the converter output 102 through an output inductor 23. When aphase output current Io is flowing through the common drain DMOSFET 22,a mirror current IS=Io/N is produced for the servo amplifier and as aresult, a current sense signal Isense=IS=Io/N is produced at the drain262 of the MOSFET 26 of the servo amplifier, which current Isense isproportional to the phase output current Io and is temperatureindependent.

[0032]FIG. 5 is an embodiment for a four-phase switching mode DC-to-DCconverter with the invented current sense apparatus. As in aconventional converter, this circuit includes a control logic 40 toreceive feedback signals from the converter output VOUT through avoltage feedback circuit and from the output stages of each phasethrough respective current feedback circuits to achieve stable converteroutput voltage VOUT and balanced currents in each phase. In order toproduce the feedback signals from each phase, the output stages in eachphase all use the circuit in FIG. 4B. For simplicity, one phase of thecircuit in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 9. This single-phase circuit 10includes an output stage connected between an input voltage VIN andground to produce a phase output voltage at its phase output node 20, asense voltage KS at output 224, a phase output current Io at drain 222,and a mirror current IS at output 225. A servo amplifier is connectedwith the mirror current IS to provide a current sense signal Isense tothe current feedback circuit to produce the current feedback signal. Avoltage feedback circuit produces a voltage feedback signal according tothe converter output voltage VOUT and a reference voltage VR. A controllogic 40 receives the current feedback signal and voltage feedbacksignal to produce a control signal to drive MOSFET 21 and common drainDMOSFET 22. The output stage includes MOSFET 21 connected between theinput voltage VIN and phase output node 20, and common drain DMOSFET 22connected between the phase output node 20 and ground. Besides, anoutput inductor 23 is connected between the phase output node 20 andconverter output 102, and an output capacitor 24 is connected betweenthe converter output 102 and ground. When the common drain DMOSFET 22 isconductive, the phase output current Io is produced at the drain 222,the mirror current IS is mirrored from the phase output current Io atthe IS terminal 225, and a voltage is produced at the KS terminal 224.The servo amplifier includes an operational amplifier 25 and a MOSFET 26with its gate connected to the output 253 of the operational amplifier25, and source 263 connected to the inverting input 252 of theoperational amplifier 25. The non-inverting input 251 and invertinginput 252 of the operational amplifier 25 are connected with the voltageKS and mirror current IS of the common drain DMOSFET 22 to produce thecurrent sense signal Isense to the sampling/holding circuit 50 so as toproduce the current feedback signal to the control logic 40. The voltagefeedback circuit includes an error amplifier 30, whose inverting input301 is connected with the converter output voltage VOUT, andnon-inverting input 302 is connected with the reference voltage VR. Thenon-inverting input 322 of a voltage follower 32 is connected with anoriginal reference voltage signal VREF, and its output 323 provides thereference voltage VR to the node between capacitor 36 and resistor 34.The other terminals of the capacitor 36 and resistor 34 are grounded andconnected to the non-inverting input 302 of the error amplifier 30,respectively. The capacitor 36 is used to stabilize the referencevoltage VR, and the resistor 34 is used to scale the VDROOP or thevariation of the converter output voltage VOUT changing with loadvariation. The non-inverting input 302 of the error amplifier 30 is alsoconnected to the sampling/holding circuit 50, and the error amplifier 30compares the converter output voltage VOUT and reference voltage VR toproduce a voltage feedback signal to the control logic 40. The controllogic 40 receives the current feedback signal and voltage feedbacksignal to produce the control signal to drive the MOSFET 21 and commondrain DMOSFET 22 in the output stage.

[0033] As described above, due to the mirror current IS of the commondrain DMOSFET 22 proportional to the phase output current Io, thedetection of the phase output current Io by the current sense apparatusis temperature independent, and the current sense signal Isense will notbe introduced with error by temperature variation. On the other hand,the voltage droop VDROOP is determined by the current sense signalIsense and the resistance RD of the resistor 34, responsive to the loadvariations.

[0034] In particular,

VDROOP=Isense×RD,

[0035] and

VOUT=VREF−VDROOP.

[0036] Since the current sense signal Isense is independent oftemperature variation, the variation of the converter output is alsoindependent of temperature variation, as shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10Ashows the waveforms at low temperature, of which the upper one shows thetransient performance of the variation Δ Iout of the converter outputcurrent lout resulted from load variation, and the lower one shows theripple performance of the converter output voltage VOUT induced by thistransient effect. FIG. 10B shows the waveforms at high temperature, ofwhich for same load variation, the droop VDROOP of the converter outputvoltage VOUT is as small as that shown in FIG. 10A. In other words, theinvented apparatus and method eliminates the influence by temperature.Although it is illustrated by use of common drain DMOSFET in the aboveembodiments, other devices or circuits are also applicable if thedescribed mirror current is used in a same manner.

[0037] While the present invention has been described in conjunctionwith preferred embodiments thereof, it is evident that manyalternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all suchalternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spiritand scope thereof as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A current sense apparatus comprising: an outputstage connected between a high voltage and a low voltage for producing aphase output current, a mirror current proportional to the phase outputcurrent, and a sense voltage; and a servo amplifier for converting themirror current to a current sense signal.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the output stage comprises: a phase output node; a common drainDMOSFET connected between the high voltage and phase output node; and aMOSFET connected between the low voltage and phase output node.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the common drain DMOSFET has a gate, adrain connected to the high voltage, a source connected to the phaseoutput node, a current mirror terminal for providing the mirror current,and a sense terminal for providing the sense voltage.
 4. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the output stage comprises: a phase output node; aMOSFET connected between the high voltage and phase output node; and acommon drain DMOSFET connected between the low voltage and phase outputnode.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the common drain DMOSFET hasa gate, a drain connected to the phase, output node, a source connectedto the low voltage, a current mirror terminal for providing the mirrorcurrent, and a sense terminal for providing the sense voltage.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the servo amplifier comprises: anoperational amplifier having an inverting input connected with themirror current, a non-inverting input connected with the sense voltage,and an output; and a MOSFET having a source connected with the invertinginput of the operational amplifier, a gate connected with the output ofthe operational amplifier, and a drain for providing the current sensesignal.
 7. A switching mode DC-to-DC converter for generating aconverter output voltage, the converter comprising: one or more outputstages each connected between a high voltage and a low voltage forproducing a phase output current, a mirror current proportional to thephase output current, a phase output voltage and a sense voltage; one ormore servo amplifiers each for converting the mirror current to acurrent sense signal; a voltage feedback circuit for comparing theconverter output voltage with a reference voltage to thereby produce avoltage feedback signal; one or more current feedback circuits eachconnected with the current sense signal for producing a current feedbacksignal; and a control logic connected with the voltage feedback signaland one or more current feedback signals for producing a control signalto drive the one or more output stages.
 8. The converter of claim 7,wherein the output stage comprises: a phase output node for deriving thephase output voltage; a common drain DMOSFET connected between the highvoltage and phase output node; and a MOSFET connected between the lowvoltage and phase output node.
 9. The converter of claim 8, wherein thecommon drain DMOSFET has a gate, a drain connected to the high voltage,a source connected to the phase output node, a current mirror terminalfor providing the mirror current, and a sense terminal for providing thesense voltage.
 10. The converter of claim 7, wherein the output stagecomprising: a phase output node for deriving the phase output voltage; aMOSFET connected between the high voltage and phase output node; and acommon drain DMOSFET connected between the low voltage and phase outputnode.
 11. The converter of claim 10, wherein the common drain DMOSFEThas a gate, a drain connected to the phase output node, a sourceconnected to the low voltage, a current mirror terminal for providingthe mirror current, and a sense terminal for providing the sensevoltage.
 12. The converter of claim 7, wherein the servo amplifiercomprises: an operational amplifier having an inverting input connectedwith the mirror current, a non-inverting input connected with the sensevoltage, and an output; and a MOSFET having a source connected with theinverting input of the operational amplifier, a gate connected with theoutput of the operational amplifier, and a drain for providing thecurrent sense signal.
 13. The converter of claim 7, wherein the voltagefeedback circuit comprises: a reference voltage generator for producingthe reference voltage; and an error amplifier having a non-invertinginput connected with the reference voltage and an inverting inputconnected with the converter output voltage for producing the voltagefeedback signal.
 14. The converter of claim 13, wherein the referencevoltage generator comprises: a voltage follower connected with anoriginal reference voltage signal for producing the reference voltage; acapacitor connected to the voltage follower for stabilizing thereference voltage; and a resistor connected between the non-invertinginput of the error amplifier and voltage follower for determining adroop of the converter output voltage.
 15. The converter of claim 7,wherein the current feedback circuit is connected with the referencevoltage.
 16. A current sense method comprising the steps of: producing aphase output current; mirroring the phase output current for producing amirror current proportional to the phase output current; and convertingthe mirror current to a current sense signal.
 17. The method of claim16, further comprising the steps of: connecting a common drain DMOSFETand a MOSFET in series between a high voltage and a low voltage with aphase voltage output node between the common drain DMOSFET and MOSFET;and producing the phase output current by switching the common drainDMOSFET and MOSFET.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprisingproviding the mirror current and a sense voltage by the common drainDMOSFET.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of converting themirror current to the current sense signal comprises the steps of:connecting the mirror current and sense voltage to an operationalamplifier; and driving a second MOSFET by the operational amplifier forproducing the current sense signal.